State Prosecution Reads Statement From Deceased Witness in Karacici Trial
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Former Bosnian Serb soldiers Radomir Markovic, Mile Kusic, Dragan Bozovic, Sasa Perkovic, Radomir Gluhovic, Pero Radovic Ilija Vukasinovic and Milos Vukasinovic have been charged with searching and pillaging houses in the villages of Karacici, Vragolovi and Golubovici on September 18, 1992.
During the search of Karacici, the defendants allegedly found 20 Bosniak civilians hiding in a garage. According to the indictment, the defendants beat the civilians with rifle butts and then pushed them into a nearby barn, where they were killed. The shooting caused a fire which burned the bodies, the indictment alleges. The prosecution claims the defendants acted in collaboration with other unidentified perpetrators.
According to the charges, at the time Markovic was the commander of the Socicka Company of the Rogaticka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, while the other defendants were members of that unit.
At today’s hearing, state prosecutor Seid Marusic read a statement given by deceased witness Esma Omeragic to the State Investigation and Protection Agency in 2013. In the statement, Omeragic said she lived in Rogatica with her family until the beginning of the war. She said when the shelling of the town began, she and her family moved to Karacici, where her parents lived.
“We stayed there for about 15 days, but grenades began falling on Karacici as well, so we left the village,” the statement reads.
Omeragic said her parents stayed behind, and she never saw them again.
“We didn’t receive any information about them until their exhumation in 2000,” Omeragic said in her statement. She’d said she’d attended the exhumation and identified her parents through some pieces of clothing.
The trial will continue on August 18, when the prosecution will continue presenting material evidence.
